Trudi’s 10 Lessons from the 2018 Smarter Artist Summit
Adventures in self publishing with Trudi Jaye.
I’ve been jealously watching from New Zealand each year as authors and publishers I know online gather in Austin for the Smarter Artist Summit. It always sounds so amazing – a group of like-minded self publishers together in one place, talking shop and getting to know each other.
This year, I couldn’t handle it any more, and decided to do something about it. (FOMO is a real thing, people.)
So I travelled to Houston, where I met fellow author and SPA Girls podcast guest, Jami Albright, for the first time in person. She then drove us to Austin, for my very first Smarter Artist Summit.
Right from the very start, I loved it: I got a hug from conference co-creator Sean Platt within half an hour of arriving at the hotel. I interviewed the amazingly generous Michael Anderle within a couple of hours, and laughed out loud to a live episode of the Worst Show Ever (the other show that Johnny B. Truant, Sean Platt and David Wright record) by the end of the first evening.
I listened attentively to speakers like Michelle Spiva (marketing and data guru), Honoree Corder (previous SPA Girls Podcast guest, and super-inspiring business woman), Michael Anderle (super-duper author and self publishing rockstar), got advice from industry experts like Carlyn from BookBub, Damon from BookFunnel, Dan and Kevin from Draft to Digital and Chrissy from Kobo, and hung out with other authors, both those I already knew, and some I was meeting for the first time.
I have to admit to being pretty exhausted after my 17 hour trip from New Zealand, but I was determined not to miss a thing. I pretty much ran on adrenaline for the six days I was in the US, meeting and greeting so many people, some of them have already blurred into another. But the one thing they all had in common was a love of self publishing and writing – my two favourite subjects in the whole world.
I’ve been to conferences both in New Zealand and the USA before, but never one so completely in my wheel house. Everyone wanted to talk about the same stuff that I did. Everyone spoke the same jargon: KDP, AMS, KU, BookBub, ENT, you name it, they knew it.
It’s such an intimate setting, you can be listening to one of the experts giving a presentation in the main room, and then later that day, chatting with them in the hotel bar. Everyone was open and approachable, and as a wide-eyed Kiwi chick (We’re not in Kansas now, Toto), I really appreciated it.
I was also hugely lucky to have friends in the audience, even if I was meeting all of them for the first time in person. Jami took me under her wing – aside from being a fantastic writer, she’s been twice before, and introduced me to a whole bunch of people throughout our time in Austin. I also met up with Arianna Golden, another podcast guest and a longtime friend, for the first time in person. Anyone Jami didn’t know, Arianna did. Previous podcast guests were in the audience and presenters, and a talented editor I had worked with were also there to catch up with.
Meeting all these people who I’ve been reading about, interacting with and watching from afar via the internet for the last few years was beyond amazing. It made me realise that, while interacting with people online is great, and we’re lucky to be able to connect even that much from here in New Zealand, there’s nothing like meeting people in person to forge connections and make lifelong friends.
I learned so much in my time there, there were hundreds of takeaways that I could have listed. But I’ve managed to compile my top ten below:
My Top Ten Lessons from Smarter Artist Summit 2018
- Take yourself seriously. Be professional. Treat your writing business like a business.
- It’s all about your readers. From the very first moment you start plotting and writing your book, to connecting with your readers as an author, and then marketing your book to them once it’s done. You should be doing everything with them in mind. If you don’t know who your readers are, you’re in trouble.
- Readers like a little humour in their books. (And Michael Anderle would know.)
- Readers also want to connect to the characters in your books. If nothing else, you need to have a likeable, relatable main character who your readers will love.
- Sub plots with open loops between books in a series are one way to get readers to go from one book to the next.
- Data is good. Always get data, it helps you make the right decisions. BookBub uses data to their best advantage, and they’re very successful because of it.
- Tactics are not marketing. You need a long term strategy.
- You can’t beat meeting people in person. No matter how many Skype calls you have it’s just not the same.
- Collaboration is a difficult but worthwhile beast.
- Everything you want is on the other side of your fear. It should feel a little bit scary – if it doesn’t, you’ve waited too long to do it.
SPA Girls Podcast – EP20 – Find Your Tribe Challenge
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This week it’s a challenge episode – please ignore the weird silence at the beginning of the recording, it was supposed to be our new theme song, but technical issues got in the way…! And then we ask what you thought of it…? Ha, just try to comment on something you can’t hear… Sorry, we’ll do better next time. 🙂
We talk about the ways we decided to meet new people – preferably other authors who could help with the self publishing process. We all found ways to get into Facebook groups, Google + hangouts, and forums and online groups. Listen in and find out how you can find the kind of people who will support you through the ups and downs of the self publishing process.
What Groups Did We Join?
Cheryl – was invited to join a group called ‘World Building,’ and they are planning to write books that relate to this subject and bundle them into a boxed set. This is an on online, world-wide group. Networking with this group will enhance her profile and also widen her writer connections. Groups like this help hugely with promotion.
Remember if you join a group you can always leave if it doesn’t suit you.
Wendy – is in a closed group (FB invitation only) of Hybrid and traditional published writers. The group is diverse and the writers at differing stages in their publishing journey. Most are based in the USA, and their knowledge base is huge and they are more than happy to help if you ask for it. This group has taught her that you never stop learning.
Be aware of the group setting that you choose to join. Remember, once it’s online, then it can be shared, especially if this is not a closed group, so be careful what information you post.
Trudi – did the Nick Stevenson course called your first 10k readers, and from that she joined the private FB group. The group was helpful when she was doing the course because could interact with other people and join discussions. As a result of this group, she put one of her books into a paranormal romance boxed set, which is helping with exposure, and often does google plus hangouts with other writers.
Remember to say yes occasionally, you never know what opportunities can arise from it!
Shar – she joined Romance Diva’s an online writer forum (not a FB group), this group has many writers all at different stages, both traditionally and self-published. There are a huge number of romance writers on there. It’s monitored, and very active and they expect you to be active also and will kick you off if you do not post. If you are active, you will benefit by exposure to their resources. There are mentoring programs and boxed set opportunities. She also joined Indie Pub Club. This also demands a high level of participation from you, or you will be asked to leave (like Shar). This is not romance pacific, and very business oriented, but they do welcome romance writers.
Maybe to begin with, look for a group that suits your genre. Now, go out there and find a group that suits you!!
Exercise challenge – the SPA girls have taken up the challenge to get moving. So you can too! Don’t be inactive all day, find something that suits you and remember, small steps lead to big ones.
If she can to it…just saying!
What’s coming up?
Pre-loading Podcasts – we will be discussing what you need to do to get your book ready to load on Amazon.
Links
https://www.yourfirst10kreaders.com/
http://www.pbs.org/video/2364990532/ – Michael Mosley (exercise)
http://www.builtlean.com/2011/05/25/basic-stretching-exercises-routine/ (stretching exercises)
SPA Girls Podcast – EP012 – Genre Break Down Challenge
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This week’s episode is number twelve – that’s right, we made it to three months! This episode was a challenge show, and we each talked about the research we’d done on our particular genres – Trudi looked into the genre conventions of Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy (with a little bit of comparison between them along the way), Cheryl investigated Chick Lit and what makes it so good, Wendy waxed lyrical on the conventions of Historical Romance, and Shar rounded it all out by telling us about Contemporary Romance.
Challenge episode
Definitions of genres
Defining what is a romance – two elements comprise a romance.
- A central love story
- An emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending
The main plot centers around the characters falling in love. You can have as many subplots as you like, but the focus is around the main characters and their love story.
HEA – Happy Ever After
HFN – Happy For Now
Lovers who risk and struggle for each other and their relationships are rewarded with emotional justice and unconditional love.
Series or Category Romances:
These are like the harlequin novels and are in the bigger stores like Walmart, and are printed monthly. They are also available in digital format.
Single title romance:
These are longer books, and are published in a number of different ways like digital, trade and mass market paperbacks.
Genre explanations:
Trudi- paranormal/urban fantasy.
Paranormal romance- is a subgenre of romance, and the romantic thread throughout the book is important, and this is the main difference is between it and urban fantasy. Has a HEA and does not tend to be as dark as urban fantasy. It’s written in third person and often more than one point of view.
Paranormal romance authors – Trudi Jaye, J.R. Ward, Stephenie Meyer, Larissa Ione, Charlene Harris, Nalini Singh
Covers- usually tend to be naked males or man and woman. Male is usually very alpha.
Urban fantasy – is often centered around the female’s journey. There is usually an element of romance. It is often written in the first person. Often there are several stories that follow the life of the main couple through a series.
Urban Fantasy Authors – Patricia Briggs, Lucy Thompson, Laurell K Hamilton, Judy Teal
Cover – silhouette of the female and more of a mainstream looking cover. Usually there is not couple in a clinch, and the setting is dark urban.
Cheryl – Chick Lit
Chick Lit can be just HFN or HEA. It can have a have almost comedic elements. Can be dark but funny, and sometimes with gritty, realistic elements. They can have romantic elements also, and the settings can be more everyday life. Varies in sensuality levels.
Authors- Marian Keys, Kathy Kelly, Elizabeth Nobel, Sophie Kinsella
Covers – they do not necessarily have people. It could be a caricature and have bright colors. The covers stand out and are often illustrations.
Wendy – Historical Romance:
There are many different eras’ that encompass Historical Romance (see list in links). There are the more traditional historical romance’s where the language and facts are accurate and then there the looser historical romances, that are factually correct, but are more sensual with varied plots and story’s.
Understand the genre you choose before you write it, because the readers know their stuff, and they’ll pick you up if you get it wrong.
YouTube is great for getting the feel for the era, for example; how to harness a horse.
Make sure you get titles correct. (See Burkes Peerage links below)
Make sure your slang or use of words are correct. Some of the words we use today were not around in some of the era’s we choose to write.
Authors-Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, Lisa Kleypas, Anna Campbell, Tessa Dare, Courtney Milan
Covers- lush with bold covers, couple or single woman or man. Dress is for that era. Quite often they are sensual.
Shar – Contemporary Romance:
Definition of contemporary romance – romance novels that are set from 1950’s to current day and they focus on the primary relationship and have a realism to them.
This is an evolving genre due to the changes in the world we live. They are set all over the world.
There are a lot of sub-genres off contemporary, like rock star, sports, billionaires, romantic suspense, small town romances.
Covers – because of the range in this genre, each sub-genre can have differing covers to depict what the story will bring the reader. Covers go from couples in differing dress and backgrounds depending on where it’s set and the sensual level of the story.
Authors-Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Lisa Klepas, Bella Andre, Marie Force.
Links
Paranormal Authors –
http://www.trudijayewrites.com/
Urban Fantasy Authors –
http://www.patriciabriggs.com/
http://www.laurellkhamilton.com/
Chick Lit Authors –
http://www.mariankeyes.com/books
http://www.elizabethnoble.co.uk/
Historical Romance Links-
Timelines for historical romance periods
http://www.burkespeerage.com/ http://www.eloisajames.com/
https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/
You Tube – Regency era hairstyles
Historical Romance Authors-
Next Challenge-finding your tribe.
WE want you to find other writers and groups, and begin to build your support community. Writing can be solitary and sometimes you need people to bounce ideas off, so go out there and find them, then let us know how you get on by posting on our FB page.
SPA Girls Podcast – EP06 – Successful Self-Publishers’ Challenge
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Welcome to the sixth episode of the SPA Girls Podcast! This podcast was our second challenge episode where we all reported back with the information that we’d found on our self publishing heroes.
We all think it’s important to have someone you aspire to be like in any career, and self publishing is no different, so we set the challenge in episode one to research someone who is successfully managing a self publishing career.
We talk about Lindsay Buroker, Joanna Penn, Marie Force and Courtney Milan. They’re all women, and they’re all trail blazing in different areas of the self publishing world. We can all learn a huge amount from them and the way they’re running their self publishing businesses.
We also set the next challenge which was to research the genre that you are writing in, and report back on the different conventions in that genre. It’s important to know the rules of your genre – even if you’re planning to break them. (although that’s not always a good idea. Just saying)
Trudi – Lindsay Buroker
She’s a very successful Indie writer of sci-fi and fantasy who makes being in unusual/cross genres work for her. She’s also a very good writer. She put her first book up in 2010, and has been making a full time living as an author since 2012. Lindsay has published approximately 29 books plus novellas and short stories.
Some quotes from Lindsay:
“The first book will always be hard to sell. You have to hustle and hand-sell to the first 1000 people. At that point, the Amazon algorithms start to pick you up. Then if the readers have enjoyed the book and signed up for your list, the numbers will improve. You can build a career if you keep putting out stories that people enjoy and slowly build a fan base.”
“This is the secret. Put out great books and build your audience slowly and you can make it. Patience is required though! I mention my interview with Donald Maass a while back and he talked about an author needing 3-5 books before making a good living and the same is true for indies. Lindsay tries to write a book every six months but also puts out a shorter work in between to keep the income boosted. I congratulate Lindsay as there is now a fan-fic site for her books, twitter accounts started for her characters and a real community around them. I think this is a huge mark of success for any author!”
“I lacked the patience for the traditional route, and I’m so glad I did. I’ve written and published more than twenty novels in the time that some of my colleagues who chose trad publishing have had 2-3 released (if they got deals at all–many didn’t). I’ve been making a living since 2012 (I published my first novel in December of 2010), and my income has continued to go up as I’ve grown my readership and published more books.”
“If I were starting now, I’d do what I did with my pen name last year (which I started anonymously). I wrote the first three books — science fiction romances — in a series and published them back-to-back, making the first book free so I could attract readers right out of the gate. Even though SFR is probably the least popular romance niche out there, I was able to do quite well with that tactic. I spent about $100 advertising that free book on sites that would plug new novels without a lot of reviews and ended up covering all of my expenses for editing and cover art and then some in the first few months. I talked about it in a lot more detail in this blog post: http://www.lindsayburoker.com/amazon-kindle-sales/pen-name-update-at-10-weeks/
Shar – Joanna Penn
Joanna Penn is a self publishing industry commentator and educator, non-fiction and fiction author. She has a terrific podcast and blog for authors with a wealth of knowledge available on her website including a free download of 11 ways to make money as an author.
She started off writing non-fiction in 2008 and in 2011 moved into fiction. She writes action adventure thrillers.
Some of Joanna’s books:
Because of her extensive knowledge in the industry Joanna Penn has been interviewed multiple times and it’s good to have the UK perspective, as often we see success in this industry as USA dominated.
Quotes by Joanna Penn
“You can’t make a living from your writing if you’re not actually writing.
And while writing may seem easy to some and it has its fun moments, it’s actually really hard work!
I think it’s the best job in the world (for me) but it’s certainly not for everyone.”
Shar’s Favorite quote – “Define what you mean by success, as that will shape your career as an author.”
Cheryl – Marie Force
Marie started out like so many of us, writing for pleasure, until she had to deal with her mother’s passing. After that tragedy the desire to publish became her focus.
She was published originally by Carina – Harlequin, but when they didn’t want any of her other work she tested the waters of self-publishing in 2010 with True North. And by 2012 had published 12 books, including the Gansett Island series.
She is now a New York Times Best Seller and has featured 11 times since March 2013. Marie has sold over 4 million books from 40 contemporary romances. Waiting for Love entered the NYT list at number 6! Her Romantic Suspense Fatal series even has its own Facebook page for fans.
She writes across genres and is successful in each. She is both traditionally and self-published and writes the stories that her fans crave.
Marie is a true entrepreneur, writing, savvy marketing, running virtual workshops and book formatting fairies, she has made her passion her career in ways we might all try to emulate.
The bio on her website is much more detailed and we have merely touched the surface with Marie’s achievements.
Some of Marie’s Books:
A few Q & A’s with Marie Force from Kobowritinglife.com
What’s your favorite literary genre? Any guilty pleasures?
‘Romance, romance, romance! And it’s not even a “guilty” pleasure. It’s what I love to read and what I love to write.’
Are there any self-publishing tricks of the trade you’d like to share? What rules of craft or promotion do you live by?
My motto is that quality is job one—always. In the digital age, QUANTITY is job two. The more books you write and publish, the better you will do overall. A lot of people go into this looking for instant success, but for most of the authors I know it was a slow build over a number of years. Your single best promotional tool is your next book. That said, I’m a big fan of Facebook as the number one place to connect with readers in the digital age. I run more than twenty reader groups—one for each of my series and each of my books—where I’ve formed an online community around my books. The groups have been very beneficial to my efforts to remain connected to my readers.
Wendy – Courtney Milan
Originally traditionally published she self-published her first book in 2010 and since then her books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Booklist. She’s on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists and has achieved many other accomplishments.
She writes both historical and contemporary, with the historicals being set predominately in the late 19th century.
I think one of the things I love most about her writing is that she deals with the real challenges woman of that period faced. Like the fact that woman had no control over the money or bodies and often the relationships they made.
She quit her day job a year and half after her first self published book. When questioned as to why she went down the self-publishing route she said she wanted more creative control over the entire process. She wanted imput into what she writes, and how it’s presented to the market, and a greater royalty share.
I was fortunate enough to meet her when she came to Auckland for the Romance Writers of NZ conference in 2014. Courtney told us she wasn’t a quick writer, therefore she had to find ways to keep her name in front of readers. She’s involved in boxed sets, changes the prices on her books, writes novellas, does foreign translations and print books, when she does not have a new release. She is also very active with her blog, which is well worth a read.
What’s the most important thing to keep in mind when self-publishing?
The most important thing to keep in mind is that you should be writing the best book you can. I know that sounds flippant, but trust me, that’s the No. 1 thing. You can recover from any other mistakes. Prices, covers and key words can be changed. You cannot recover from writing a terrible book. Your first goal should be to look at the reader experience.
What’s the best piece of advice you can give newbies looking to self-pub?
If you’re new to this business, you should be spending 95 percent of your time writing, and 5 percent taking care of the other business. The most important thing is to write. The publishing part of this is not that bad or that time-consuming. The writing has to come first.
– See more at: http://www.rtbookreviews.com/rt-daily-blog/self-pub-pro-qa-courtney-milan#sthash.CeeKCMCB.dpuf
Links
Joanna Pen
Lindsay Buroker
lindsayburoker/videos-podcasts
Marie Force
marieforce.com/virtual-workshops
Courtney Milan
About The SPA Girls
The SPA Girls are Trudi Jaye, Cheryl Phipps, Wendy Vella and Shar Barratt: four New Zealand authors who between them have had more than 100 books published.
They’ve been self-publishing since 2013, and Wendy Vella alone, has sold more than 2 million copies of her historical and contemporary romances.
The SPA Girls Podcast (SPA = Self Publishing Authors) is one of the industry’s leading publishing podcasts globally, with over five years worth of weekly top-rating episodes.
Aimed at the beginning self-publisher, the podcast has received rave reviews from listeners and guests alike! Each week the SPA Girls bring listeners a new episode covering all things self-publishing, writing craft, marketing advice, advertising strategies and expert guest interviews.
Listen and subscribe on your favorite podcast app (just search SPA Girls Podcast) or watch the fun on their popular YouTube channel
Trudi Jaye writes urban fantasy and young adult fiction. She’s a trained journalist, communications specialist and martial arts enthusiast. Her urban fantasy series Dragon Rising is set in an alternate universe that looks just like ours – except with dragon shifters and a kick butt heroine…
Learn more about Trudi at:
Cheryl is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author from beautiful Auckland, New Zealand with two alter egos: C.A. Phipps writes cozy mysteries, and Cheryl Phipps writes contemporary romance.
She loves stories filled with feisty heroines, suave heroes and wonderful small towns, and crafting her own heart-warming tales of strong family ties, mixed in with a little romance, humor, and delicious baking!
Find out more about Cheryl at:
Shar Barratt is a marketing specialist by day and writer by night. Her clients include top entertainment brands, international retailers and NYT and USA Today bestselling authors. She’s got more how-to books than any person should have, and is currently working on a cozy mystery series under a secret penname that shall never be revealed (but she’s open to bribery-by-chocolate).
Shar blogs via images on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/sharbarratt/
Wendy Vella is a USA Today bestselling author of historical and contemporary romances. With more than two million books sold, over 40 books published, and having been an Amazon bestseller many times, Wendy absolutely loves being an indie author (she started in traditional publishing, then soon saw the light!).
Her extraordinarily popular Regency romances include: The Langley Sisters series, Sinclair & Raven series, Lords of Night Street series, Deville Brothers series. Her sizzling small-town romance series include the Lake Howling series and Ryker Falls series.
Find out more about Wendy at : www.wendyvella.com
